Amazon Partnered Carrier program options are available for small-parcel deliveries and less-than-truckload (LTL), intermodal, and full-truckload (FTL) shipments within the 48 contiguous states in the US. The program offers discounted rates for sending these shipments to FBA fulfillment centers. You can benefit from competitive rates that we've negotiated with partnered carriers and ensure fast transit times with carriers that have experience shipping to Amazon.
Use our simplified process in Seller Central to print labels and track deliveries for small-parcel shipments and get coverage for lost or damaged items for your shipments under the FBA inventory reimbursement policy. To use the Partnered Carrier program, select the option when you create the shipment in Seller Central.
Dangerous goods cannot be shipped via partnered carriers. To learn more, go to Dangerous goods identification guide (hazmat).
For more information and commonly asked questions, go to Amazon Partnered Carrier program FAQ and the Partnered Carrier program guide.
Eligible carriers offer deeply discounted rates. The cost is billed to your Seller Central disbursement account as an inbound transportation charge and will appear as a service fee in your Payments report 24 hours after you accept the charge. For shipments that weigh less than 1 lb, the minimum fee applies.
Once your shipment is confirmed and the transportation fee has been accepted, we'll provide you with a printable carrier tracking label, along with your FBA box ID label, to use with the partnered carrier. Before you generate the tracking label, be sure to review the details and check that all is correct. Accurate shipping details help to prevent carrier delays, shipment problems, and receiving errors.
After completing your shipment, give your package to your regularly scheduled small-parcel pickup driver for your carrier or schedule a one-time pickup via UPS. You can also take the package to a carrier drop-off site.
For more information, go to Small-parcel delivery to Amazon.
Billable weight and shipping-cost calculation
Billable weight is used to estimate the shipping cost. The billable weight will be either the dimensional weight or the physical shipment weight, whichever is greater.
We estimate shipping cost based on the shipment packing information (box weights and dimensions) and the expected billable weight rounded up.
Partnered carriers offer discounted rates to eligible sellers. The cost is billed to your account as an inbound transportation charge and appears as a service fee in your Payments report. If your total shipment weighs more than 150 lb, consider using a partnered LTL or FTL carrier.
To use a partnered LTL or FTL carrier, you must meet the shipment requirements described below and have the following:
If your site can't accommodate a 53-foot trailer or meet the dock requirements, you can request the lift-gate service or a box truck as described below.
For more information, go to Carrier requirements for delivering shipments.
When you create your shipment in Seller Central, you must provide a contact email address and phone number. If there's an issue with picking up your shipment, this email address and phone number will be the first point of contact for resolving it.
To learn more about LTL and FTL deliveries with the Partnered Carrier program, watch this Seller University video:
Shipment requirements
Each shipment requires four-way-access wooden pallets that are 40 x 48 inches and GMA Standard B Grade or higher. Also provide the following information, ensuring that it’s accurate:
For more information, go to Seller requirements for LTL, FTL, and FCL deliveries.
Freight class
Freight class is a standardized classification system that determines the billable weight and risk of a shipment. Freight class is ranked from 50 to 500.
Make sure to provide accurate packaging information when creating a shipment. This information should match the physical weights and dimensions of your pallet and is used for your freight class estimate.
If you’re unsure of your shipment’s freight class, choose the Estimate my freight class option in step 4 of the Send to Amazon workflow when you enter your pallet information. We'll estimate the freight class based on the pallet information that you provide.
For more information, go to Amazon Partnered Carrier freight class.
Dock requirements
To ensure safety, the following requirements must be maintained:
LTL lift-gate service and box truck request
If you don’t have a dock door or a forklift, you can still use the Amazon-partnered LTL service. To qualify for the service, your shipment must be under 12 pallets and weigh less than 20,000 lb.
To use the lift-gate service or request a box truck, follow these steps:
We'll assign a carrier and create a bill of lading, which you'll receive via email and can access in Seller Central.
Warehouse operating hours
Operating hours are used to plan the time of pickup from your ship-from address. To provide operating hours, follow these steps:
Amazon Freight offers pallet pickup within two days of booking and provides fast shipping at low rates. It’s available for pickup from select ZIP Codes for shipments to designated fulfillment centers across the country. For more information, go to Amazon Freight LTL shipping service.
Scheduling a pickup
When you use the Partnered Carrier program service, we provide an estimated shipping fee and pickup date based on your shipment information, such as number of pallets, weight, and freight class. We also include the freight-ready date that you provide.
While booking your shipment, we'll select the lowest-cost carrier rate available at the earliest date possible. When you select a freight-ready date, we'll select the lowest cost carrier available on that particular day. To view and select other carrier options, click Change carrier.
Your pickup date will be planned for the freight-ready date that you selected. The scheduled pickup date, including any updates, will be shown in the Shipping Queue and in your shipments’ summary pages. The carrier assigned to your shipment will appear in the Tracking details step of Send to Amazon as well as on your bill of lading.
If you think your freight won't be ready before we attempt to pick it up, you can update the freight-ready date until 5 p.m. local time the day before the pickup date. To update your shipment’s freight-ready date, follow these steps:
Preparing for pickup
Shipments should be palletized, properly stretch-wrapped, labeled, and staged at your pickup location with bills of lading printed from Seller Central via the Track shipment tab or from the email sent to the address that you provided.
Your dock yard should be free of all debris. The carrier needs enough space to back in and dock a 53-foot trailer or, if selected, a box truck. If a lift gate is needed, make sure the box truck has enough space to park and load freight.
If you discuss your pickup details with the carrier, refer to your shipment by the Amazon reference number on your bill of lading. The reference number is different from your FBA shipment ID and is required for pickup and delivery requests.
Executing a pickup
You are responsible for ensuring that your shipments are loaded onto the truck in full. Drivers are not required to load shipments on behalf of shippers.
Once the driver is docked, give the driver the bill of lading and begin loading the corresponding shipments. Both your warehouse clerk and the driver will sign the bill of lading after they have confirmed that it matches the shipment pallets that were loaded on the truck. Be sure to keep a copy of the signed bill of lading.
Handling a missed pickup
In some instances, the carrier may not be able to pick up your shipment on the estimated pickup date. If that occurs, check the Shipping Queue or your shipment’s Summary tab to view the new pickup date. If no new pickup date is available, contact the carrier directly.
If you're unable to solve an issue with a missed pickup, submit a carrier missed pickup request. Mention that your issue relates to "Partnered carrier delayed shipment pickup assistance." Provide the shipment ID, assigned carrier, estimated pickup date, and Amazon reference number from your shipment’s bill of lading.
For information on how to cancel a shipment using the Send to Amazon workflow, go to Send to Amazon: Change or cancel your shipment.
Your account won't be billed if you cancel the shipment within the following time frames:
To request a refund, cancel the shipment, verify that you've been charged for the shipment, and contact Selling Partner Support.
To verify that you've been charged, see whether there's an inbound transportation charge transaction in your Payments report with a fee amount that matches the Amazon partnered-carrier cost amount shown on the summary page for your shipment.
You may have multiple partnered-carrier shipments with the same Amazon partnered-carrier cost amounts. When this occurs, verify that the creation time stamp of the shipment that you canceled is either 24 hours or one hour in advance of the transaction time stamp, depending on the shipping mode.
Amazon’s Selling Partner API includes partnered carrier options. For more information, go to Selling Partner API overview.